Alberta Summit on Justice

Public Consultation -September 16, 1998

Presentation by Paul Lowe

This is about children.  There was a time when we had faith, hope and charity.  I have to tell you respectfully that we are losing that faith, hope and charity in the bureaucracies.  We have to distance ourselves.  Children need faith and hope.  They need their Daddies and their Mommies.

    When marriages break up there are far too many children lost to poverty.  Our social services are no help what-so-ever to these little ones.  When marriages break down, 92% of children end up so close to poverty.  This has to end.   We have to put people who love their children together.  We are all children.  At my age Iam still a child.  If we don't look after these children we are in a pretty sorry state.

    Only 3% of children ever experience violence at the hand of their natural father.  One example is a father who is 47 years old, has a job earning $65,000 per year and almost bankrupted himself to have access increased to 18%.  This is a crime against our children.

    I beseech the Premier to look at the fathers.  One thing that happens is children are allowed to be a pawn.  If someone decides to get a little angry, well, it's "you can't see them this weekend."  The statistics are there that there is a violent generation coming up.  I ask you to thank your judges for that one.  They like to be autonomous, but in matters of Family Law we are all people.  We may not always be right but we have to try for our children.  Our grandparents are so important to the children's lives. Were are they?

    How many families break up today?  It's a tragedy.  Our children, they need us.  We have to change things for our children.  Would little Johnny be a criminal if he grew up to call somebody Dad? I want to mention the system in the U.S. which is fabrieating to rise up and strike a Militia to fight these things.  This is how serious this situation is in North America.  Our court system must understand that they can no longer allow children to be victimized. This may mean taking some of the bad lawyers out of the system.

    I took one year and monitored the court systenn.  There are some judges who don't like me but I can't help that.  Things need to change.

Paul Lowe is a man who, although he doesn't have any children, was put through the divorce-grinder like any father and came out totally wrung-dry.  His ex-wife is a top level bureaucrat in the Alberta Government, and Paul was a gardener.  She obviously made her influence and connections count in effective ways to destroy him (she even took his gardening tools and his cat).  She didn't succeed.  Paul came out of it all as a men's and Fathers Rights activist who helped many over the last few years in their fight against insurmountable odds to obtain justice for their children in the courts.
    Paul Lowe is very ill with cancer and barely has the breath to speak.  He made his presentation sitting in a wheel chair (but he still has a restraining order gainst him -- even though he never harmed his ex-wife in any way -- she just said that she was afraid of him, wrote a letter to the jail warden and had Paul serve an extra four months in jail).
    I couldn't drive into Edmonton the day Paul gave his presentation to the consultation committee hearing, but I was told about Pauls' presentation -- it had made such a deep impact on the consultation committee and the audience that Paul was not interrupted once, even though he went by five minutes over the allotted ten-minute time limit.  By the time he was done, there wasn't a dry eye left in the house.
    Maybe, just maybe, there are still enough people with concern for our children and families to salvage our society.  If only some of that concern were to be reflected in family legislation that will support our families and children instead of tearing them apart …

Update:

Paul D. Lowe passed away on October 14, 1998 at the W. Cross Cancer Hospital, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, after a courageous battle against cancer.

Cremation has taken place.

Paul will be sadly missed by his family and many friends.  He will be remembered for his dedicated work for the rights of children.

Paul's faithfulness to the cause of children denied a relationship with their families (usually paternal) will live on in the many things he put into motion, things that will help to bring about a better future for our families and children.

Index to some of the testimony given at the Consultation Committee hearings